Sikinos Day Trip from Folegandros: The Boat, What to See and How to Get Back

From Chora in Folegandros you see Sikinos every morning: a long, narrow island a few nautical miles to the east, with even fewer residents, even fewer roads and a pace that makes Folegandros look busy. It is the day trip that people staying in Folegandros for more than three days end up doing.

What it has: the port of Alopronia with a beach and tavernas, the twin villages of Kastro and Chorio on top of the hill, the monastery of Zoodochos Pigi above the Kastro, Episkopi, a Roman mausoleum turned Byzantine church and one of the strangest monuments in the Cyclades, and beaches reached by small boat or on foot.

For the other neighbouring connections see the guide to the ferries from Milos and the other islands.

The local boat is the way for the day trip: in summer it leaves Karavostasi in the morning and comes back in the afternoon, with times that change by season and by weather. The scheduled ferries linking Folegandros with Sikinos, Ios and Santorini or Piraeus pass at other hours and do not always work for a same-day return.

Ask on the Karavostasi seafront or at the ticket agencies the day before, and check the day's sailings on ferryhopper.com. Your Road Runner vehicle stays in the port parking and waits for you in the afternoon.

The boat docks at Alopronia, the small port with the sandy beach and the tavernas. From there a bus in summer, or a steep 3 km climb, goes up to the twin villages.

• Kastro and Chorio: one medieval, with house-walls around the square, the other more spread out, with lanes that end in a view. A kafeneio, a few tavernas, nobody around.
• Zoodochos Pigi: the fortified monastery on the rock above the Kastro, with the island's best view.
• Episkopi: an hour on foot west of Chorio on an old path, the third-century Roman mausoleum that became a church. The reason many people come to Sikinos at all.
• Beaches: Alopronia for ease, and by boat or path Agios Georgios and other small sandy coves, depending on the season.

The plan: villages and monastery in the morning, Episkopi at midday for walkers or a beach for everyone else, lunch at Alopronia and back on the afternoon boat.

• Cash: Sikinos has even less infrastructure than Folegandros; bring euros for the boat, the bus and the tavernas.
• Water and a hat: the climb from the port and the Episkopi path are shadeless.
• Times: confirm the boat's return time before you leave the port; it is your only way back the same day.
• Overnight: if you want Sikinos with its quiet, stay one night and come back on the scheduled ferry the next day.

In Folegandros your vehicle waits in the Karavostasi parking; ten minutes and you are in Chora for the sunset. See the port guide and, if you have few days, the Folegandros in one day guide.